I store all of my produce at home in the same manner it is displayed at the market. Cold items in the fridge, room temp items in a bowl on the counter.

Citrus is sold at room temp, thus I keep it at home at room temp.

I store all citrus loose in my fruit drawer in the refrigerator. It seems to keep for a very long time, stays fresh and juicy - but other than on the counter which doesn't work for me I haven't really compared bagged, not bagged, shelved or drawer. Other than Cuties or Halos, I rarely buy by the bag or box.

I think local conditions and use (turnover) have an impact.

Here you have to keep them in the fridge or they quickly turn to rocks because of our low humidity.

They're fine on the counter for several days, but anything longer should go in the fridge. I always have lemons on the counter and in the crisper drawer. I'm such a lemon fan and like having them on display (with their leaves). I don't worry much since our lemon tree keeps us well supplied year round.

ETA - We no longer have a lime tree but our daughter does and shares with us. Limes don't last as long as lemons for me whether at room temp or chilled. Chilling helps but they'll still harden up eventually, and lemons go soft.

I think the age of the produce has an impact, i.e., produce from storage vs “fresh” picked.

Do you have lemons go bad? If so, change your storage. If not, don’t worry about it. Most citrus, especially the thick pith kind optimized for shipment and sale, will last weeks in the air in a not too hot or too dry house. If you have a lot of HVAC, they could dry out. If you have a lot of damp, they could dry out. Force of habit, I put store citrus in the fridge and keep garden citrus on the counter. If your fridge citrus is in a drawer surrounded by other things in bags, you don't need one. If it's sitting proud alone, a plastic bag will help keep it juicy in the face of the evaporator.

in general, just use your fruit and you won't have to worry. ;)

I leave them on my trees until I am ready to use them. If I have too many getting ripe at the same time, I put two or three in a Foodsaver bag and store them in the freezer. If I want to zest a lemon that has been frozen, I zest it before defrosting it. They defrost quickly in the microwave - about 20 seconds. I turn them over after 10 seconds. They are very easy to juice after having been frozen but impossible to zest when defrosted, but I do save the rinds for chicken stock and soups.

I store citrus in the refrig. Lemons and limes in plastic bags without holes and oranges and grapefruit loose in the drawer...because they are eaten more quickly. And I wash lemons and limes, and dry them before bagging them. Iw ant to wash off any mold spoors....helps them keep longer. Alas, the cold weather in the midwest precludes storing them on the tree.....sigh.....

Storing produce the way a store does sounds logical, but I agree that the turnover/usage rate plays a part too. I've been keeping a lot of Misfits organic citrus out on the table for months -- during winter the skin on the lemons and limes dried out too quickly so I got in the habit of refrigerating them. I've been storing them loose in the fruit drawer of the fridge and I only lost a couple that were actually part of a bad batch of lemons. One arrived DOA, so I knew there was a problem with them.

In this case, I've run out of organic lemons and now have a bag of ordinary lemons from Aldi. In the past, I've put the bag (plastic mesh or plastic w/ holes) in the fruit drawer of the fridge and I always lose one or two (or more) of Aldi lemons to a quick blue mold growing. Hence my questions about storage. I think Linda might have the right idea about washing these Aldi lemons before storage.

Lars, freezing some is a great idea too, especially now! I've been doing it with avocados ever since you mentioned it and it works great. :)

I wish we could grow lemons and limes here!

I've had success with wrapping limes in newspaper and into a plastic bag in the fridge. Lemons seem to fare better in just plastic bags.

PM, given the evidence you just presented and Linda's good experience, I think you're right on track. Unless they're visibly dirty, I don't wash my tree lemons until I'm ready to use them because they keep better with their natural defenses, and the point of picking them ahead of time is to not have to go harvesting in the middle of cooktime (mine is a full sized tree and it's a sweaty job getting all but the lowest hanging). Since yours are coming from Aldi with mold, washing them sounds by far like the best move, and once washed they're likely to keep best in the fridge. I like your plan. :)

"...and the point of picking them ahead of time is to not have to go harvesting in the middle of cooktime..."

Right...and I also agree it can be a job getting the ones that are up so darn high. Truly just too far up there.

When my tree got too tall to pull down the branches, I got a harvester pole/basket. It has a nice collapsible shaft, but the cheap farmer one that my citrus garden friend has works better. :) Hence the sweaty. :)

Haha! I can't grow citrus but when I can't reach the highest branches on my apples I tether a scoop-like plastic container to the end of my expandable golf ball retriever and it works great. Lol!!!

Lemons are non-climacteric. Those lucky enough to have a tree, it is best to leave them out and use within a few days. Fridge crisper to extend their fresh flavor. My citrus will last a few weeks or more in the crisper that has a solid divider, 1/3rd for fruits, etc, the bigger 2/3rd side for everything else.

Those of us that need to purchase, the citrus has already spend time in travel, so I wash everything that comes in , (especially during covid), then bag for the crisper. After some dry time on the counter. And some cold water stem end soaking of greens, salads, root crops...

Who knows how long any produce from a grocery has been in transit or on the shelves. Or left on the back dock of the store in the heat.

Climacterics can be left out to ripen. Then fridge to slow down the ripening.

Every fridge is different. When this came up last year we found that sometimes an experiment is necessary.

I had some golden beets and watermelon radish delivered a couple months ago, washed, dried, and into clear plastic bread bags. At some point a radish escaped left uncovered. Now really soft and starting to shrivel. Compost.

Some recommendations just will not work for me. Like the mesh type veg zippered bags. Might be good for something like cherries.

I've never considered to follow how a grocery sells produce.

As Lars has mentioned, I saw on “the kitchen“ show that citrus is good to store in the freezer, just in ziplock bags.

I keep it in the fruit/veg drawer in plastic bags, which help keep the rinds from drying out, and also keep the drawer cleaner. Citrus left out on the counter here softens and shrivels up in a just a few days.

Citrus goes loose into the fridge, except for pieces I plan to use in a day or two. Those can stay out on the counter.

I don't wash citrus prior to storage, but were I to have problems with mold I certainly would.

Odd... I know I replied to sleeve, but it's not here and I never saw the posts from Tues.

Given my location, I'm definitely a candidate for getting lemons that have been in transit for a long long time. Priority Mail takes a full week from California, so lemons probably take longer. :) I did wash the lemons from Aldi and will try to always remember to do so in the future. Currently, I have limes loose in the veg drawer and the lemons in a sealed plastic bag. So far all is well, but I've been using a lot of citrus lately. :)

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Wish you were my neighbor so I could give you lemons! 🍋

One 'at home' example. My farm produces about 3-400 pounds of rhubarb. No deer or critter touches it so the rows I've transferred corms, or whatever they are called, over the years are out in the open field, in rows. Critters do not touch it. In the markets it looks limp and crappy. At 7-8 dollars a pound. If I put 15 to 20 pounds into my fridge in bags it lasts garden fresh for three-four weeks. if I place one stalk on a fridge shelf uncovered it will go limp in two days. Just like carrots. It really is a fridge/crisper design that keeps produce fresh.

-if I continued 20 years ago, dividing and transplanting rhubarb once a year, I would have a very nice $$$ farm. We joked about a rhubarb retirement in our late 30's. Oh well. Had I continued transplanting once a year with not much effort...we would easily have a few thousand pounds in just a couple acres. (it grows without any extra food or water.) Garlic is another crop that does really well.

I send 5 pounds of rhubarb to my MIL and SIL every year. Down south where rhubarb does not grow. It is a weed to us but I do make juice, etc.

We all have what others want.

Great thread. i had almost a whole bag of lemons go bad on me, stored both outside the fridge and then later in it. Thinking about trying the freezer method. I just use the juice and rind anyway, so quality of fruit is pretty much immaterial. I store soft bananas in freezer for later use in baking. They are ruined for fresh eating anyway.

I keep grapefruit in a cold room all winter and have no problems. They take up so much room in the fridge.

Sue

We have 12 citrus trees and are often overwhelmed with excess. I've never thought much about how I store the fruit. In general, we prefer to keep them on the tree. If they fall on their own, I put them in a bowl on the counter. In the last year we have done a better job at preserving them. When the oranges start to fall, we pick them, zest them and juice them. The juice gets frozen in molds, and then stored in the freezer in ziplock bags. We use a muffin mold to produce a puck which is perfect for a single glass of OJ. Ice cube trays make the perfect portion for cooking. The zest gets dried and kept for cooking or made into orange rosemary salt. For lemons and limes, we also zest and juice, but instead of freezing the juice we keep it in the frig and use it for cooking or making lemon or limeade.

Marinate in gin?

If the weather is warm, they are stored in the refrigerator, wherever I can find room. If the weather is cold, I keep them in the garage.

Gin is very specific. Try plain vodka. Make limoncello. :)

Pillog, I forgot all about limoncello. That is my favorite way to preserve the excess :) and is much easier to do than most people think.